Chaos getting through T1 security early evening yesterday. Queues out the door. Men in suits stood about observing, but doing nothing to solve the problem.
Disappointing to hear. I wonder if all the security lanes and machines were open.
My own experience at T1 on a busy Friday morning 10 days ago wasn't too bad at all. The queue started inside the terminal but where you first enter the security channel. I suggested to the wife it could take an hour but in fact we were through in 35 minutes.
Now it's perhaps a matter of opinion as to whether 35 minutes is deemed acceptable but as others have mentioned, passengers with earlier flights were being pulled out and sent through the fast track lane to the front. Queue management seemed to me pretty good and all security channels and machines open and working. I do accept though that the number of bags being pulled out for re-examination can slow things down and my own experience on that front last year was that that part of the process was less efficient.
Personally, in today's climate, I wouldn't dream of arriving at the airport less than 2 hours before departure. And if I was flying to Barcelona with an onward connection to South America like Ametyst1's friend, then I would certainly allow an extra half hour for good measure. Even 45 minutes through security wouldn't then be a problem. Far better to spend longer airside having a coffee than getting stressed in a security queue because of not arriving at the airport earlier enough.